Augmented reality (AR) systems and virtual reality systems are undergoing rapid development. An augmented reality system typically involves a headset or glasses that allow a wearer to observer the real world, but supplement that view with additional rendered images on the lenses of the headset or glasses. As an example Google Glass™ augmented reality glasses may be used to display data and other effects to a user while still viewing the real world. Virtual reality systems tend to be more immersive so that the wearer sees only the rendered virtual reality world on a wide field of view headset. A recently-developed AR device from Microsoft is branded HoloLens™. The HoloLens™ headset uses a plurality of cameras and sensors to try to build upon knowledge of the location and orientation of the headset in a real world space while rendering a “hologram” object that appears to the wearer as though it is in the real world space. The “hologram” is a stereoscopic rendering of a computer-modelled object.
In the field of medicine, imaging and image guidance are a significant component of clinical care. From diagnosis and monitoring of disease, to planning of the surgical approach, to guidance during procedures and follow-up after the procedure is complete, imaging and image guidance provides effective and multifaceted treatment approaches, for a variety of procedures, including surgery and radiation therapy. Targeted stem cell delivery, adaptive chemotherapy regimens, and radiation therapy are only a few examples of procedures utilizing imaging guidance in the medical field. Optical tracking systems, used during a medical procedure, track the position of a part of the instrument that is within line-of-site of the optical tracking camera. These optical tracking systems also require a reference to the patient to know where the instrument is relative to the target (e.g., a tumour) of the medical procedure.
Pre-operative imaging data such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET), is integrated into the surgical room statically through a viewing station, or dynamically through a navigation system. The navigation system registers devices to a patient, and a patient to the pre-operative scans, allowing for instruments to be viewed on a monitor in the context of the pre-operative information.
Augmented reality systems may have a role to play in future surgical procedures.